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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium with unipolar motility. An opportunistic human pathogen, P. aeruginosa is also an opportunistic pathogen of plants. P. aeruginosa secretes a variety of pigments, including pyocyanin (blue-green), fluorescein (yellow-green and fluorescent, now also known as pyoverdin), and pyorubin (red-brown). King, Ward, and Raney developed Pseudomonas Agar P (aka King A media) for enhancing pyocyanin and pyorubin production and Pseudomonas Agar F (aka King B media) for enhancing fluorescein production.

The word Pseudomonas means 'false unit', from the Greek pseudo (Greek: 'false') and monas (Latin: monas, fr. Greek: 'a single unit'). The word was used early in the history of microbiology to refer to germs. Aeruginosa is the Latin word for verdigris or 'copper rust'. This describes the blue-green bacterial pigment seen in laboratory cultures of P. aeruginosa.

P. aeruginosa is often preliminarily identified by its pearlescent appearance and grape-like odor in vitro. Definitive clinical identification of P. aeruginosa often includes identifying the production of both pyocyanin and fluorescein as well as its ability to grow at 42°C. P. aeruginosa is capable of growth in diesel and jet fuel, where it is known as a hydrocarbon utilizing microorganism (or "HUM bug"), causing microbial corrosion. It creates dark gellish mats sometimes improperly called "algae". [ wikipedia ]